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Wednesday, 28 December 2011

Milistyle Knitting Bag Review

I must have been a very good girl because Santy brought me exactly what I asked for!

A brand new gorgeous sinfully deluxe knitting bag and in pure silk in my absolute favourite colour - sea green-ish blue (bit of a tall order I know!)

The knitting bag is the Everyday Knitting Bag from Milistyle which I ordered from Amazon. There are several tote bags and clutches available on the site and are not dedicated wholly to knitting as they double as evening or day wear. There are also sewing cases, needle cases, jewellery cases, phone and glasses cases and stoles and wraps. All come in this beautiful silk with poly silk (I think) linings and are Fair Trade.

There are six colours - the Aqua below is a mixture of sea green and baby blue that really does shimmer and change colour when you tip it in the light. It looks a little bluer on the website but I would think the lustre of the silk makes it very hard to photograph truly.

On the outside the bag is tote like with an open top that has one magnetic fastener in the centre. There are two padded comfortable handles for holding in the hand or possibly the shoulder, they are joined at the bag by 4 hand sewn scrolls in the same colour silk that are very pretty and a nice design feature.

The bag measures 25cm (h) x 35cm (w) x 16cm (d) and has a flat base so that it stands open upright and by itself (very important for knitting!)

Inside, I have all my bits and bobs lovingly in situ! I spent a very enjoyable Christmas Day afternoon sorting out all my knitty things while the hubby was softly snoring on the sofa and the kids were playing happily with there new toys.

As you can see there's LOTS of room!

Here she is empty, as you can see there is a phone pocket with an elasticated top. It fits my Nokia E5 handily enough so it would probably fit a standard android or i phone too. The two main sections are divided by a zipped pocket that is the full width and almost the full height of the bag (there's about 4cm between the top rim of the bag and the beginning of the pocket. This pocket is not attached to the base of the bag so it does give you some 'wiggle' room for your belongings on each side.

On the opposite side there is a zipped pocket in the wall of the bag for small valuables or notions.

As you can see I have a lot of stuff packed into this delicate little bag! Actually it just looks delicate, when you feel the silk and see and touch the stitching and feel how the seams have been bound, you will no longer think it's delicate. It seems quite sturdy and substantial in your hand and I'm sure as long as I take care with covering needles/scissors and other sharp things, it should last me a long time!

So you can see I also received some coordinating needle rolls and a notions pouch and a dpn holder (lucky me!).

The dpn needle pouch was for 8" needles. I have a lot of dpn's as I adore both socks and lace and they come in very handy for both. The problem is that when you have a LOT of needles, the dpn case does not close. So if you are thinking of investing, maybe go a size up just to be sure. It's not really a problem, I just need to keep them together and I do still have them in their plastic sleeves so I'm aware that there is extra bulk there.

Love my bamboo dpn's - they're from Tall Yarns 'n Tales and feel lovely to knit with, smooth and strong, no snags or rough bits and I love how they oxidise a little after you've used them :-)

Here's the notions pouch, I forgot to keep the cute little tassel at the end of the zip in the frame! The notions pouch is small, padded but quite roomy and holds scissors, point protectors, stitch holders, stitch markers in a tin etc. It measures 8cm x 11.5cm.

A close up of the material.

Inside the accessories pouch.

Needle roll number one!

This one houses ALL my circulars! There are 18 compartments and you can fit more than one circular in each. I'm keeping my bamboo's separate from my metal ones and doubling up with the same sizes. How's that for organisation? I must invest in some iron on tape and a permanent pen and mark the sizes on each pocket.

Next is a needle roll for my interchangeable Knit Pro's. I have two sets - wooden and acrylic and also additional smaller and chunky sizes.

Room for all cords (I can keep the lengths separate in their own pockets - there are four) and a zipped pocket for the ends and keys, very secure and no more fussing with the little plastic baggies that they came in!

My needles just about fit! I still have to work out a workable order to this so that I'm not searching through each one for the needle tips I need. the problem arises with the chunkier sizes as only one needle per pocket will fit.

It does draw the bottom in a little with all the needles inside, but again, this is to be expected. All my needles are contained in the one spot, hurrah!

Below is the little zipped pocket for the end caps and keys.

I actually have two pockets free at the top where I keep a needle conversion chart and my cord extender contraption thingy! Must get a smaller needle gauge to fit one of these pockets.

Here's a goo at the centre bag zipped pocket. Cavernous in size and the zip opens 90% of the opening so your belongings are extremely easy to get at.

Here she is loaded up AGAIN!

I actually have all my knitting belongings and 3 WIP's in project bags in the bag, she is packed but you could squeeze a little more in if you wanted!

The scroll, adorable isn't she?

So that's it! A new start to 2012 and a new knitting year with a new companion full of organisational goodies. Bliss!

Hope this helps anyone who has ever looked at these bags/accessories and wasn't sure. I searched and searched for reviews and information but didn't find much, so I hope this gives enough information. If you have any questions or want any more information, leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as I can.

I have the Brittany Birch dpn's (the shortest ones) and they are lovely, but bamboo is still my favourite, they feel silkier and glide better, plus I never broke a bamboo dpn especially in the smaller sizes & broke plenty of Brittany's (sob!)

milistyle knitting bag review ......Thanks for the great review & photos. I am torn between Milistyle & Lantern Moon. Do you know whether the Milistyle are as good quality ie in the material used and stitching as Lantern Moon. As you say there is not much info about Milistyle on the internet at all. Thanks -purler 1

Hi, I haven't seen any Lantern Moon bags so I'm afraid I can't comment or compare. I will say though, that I have used my Milistyle bag and needle organisers etc. daily since I got them at Christmas (4 months now) and they are still perfect, no snags, seams all perfectly intact, they are still as new. So I am very pleased with the quality of them. I can't recommend them enough!

Many thanks for such a quick reply. I think I will give Milistyle a go as it seems very difficult to obtain a Lantern Moon (LM) circular only case in this country (UK). It is easy to get a LM combination case for circulars & straights but I want more storage for circulars than what the LM gives. I am going to Wonderwool in Wales this coming week-end, can't wait(!) so will have to make sure I don't break the bank when I am there so I can order the case upon my returrn. Give my regards to your beautiful Emerald Isle I had a lovely month long holiday there last year visiting both NI and Co.Mayo. Thanks again - purler1